


advice

by aizensosuke



Series: the dreamers and the lovers [7]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Advice, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Mpreg, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 14:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17122721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aizensosuke/pseuds/aizensosuke
Summary: ukitake is new to this, and urahara has some experience.





	advice

“How are you feeling this morning, Ukitake-san?” Inoue Orihime’s fingers are gentle as she probes the front of his chest, careful of the scars there, the evidence of his prior surgeries in vain attempts to fix his damaged lungs. “How has your breathing been?”

“The same as always, my dear.” Ukitake likes her; her warmth, her kindness, and her caring nature make her a perfect candidate to become a healer even without the inexplicable powers that seem to course through her fingers at a moment’s notice. “No change, whether it be positive or negative. You can tell Retsu I’ve been taking my medicine.”

Orihime smiles softly. “She’ll be glad to hear that, I’m sure. Do you need more?”

“No, I’ve got enough to last me a couple of weeks.” Drinking the nasty-smelling drought is the worst part of his morning by far, but Ukitake does what he has to do.

“That’s good. Can you take a deep breath for me?” Orihime asks, pressing her fingers into his ribs, always careful to make sure she does not hurt him.

The rhythm is the same as always; Orihime sends him on his way when nothing unusual shows up in his examination and Kyoraku is waiting just outside of the building for him, shoulders missing their usual floral kimono. In its place is a heavy black fur that Ukitake knows well; his fingers stretch out to brush through the softness, kept well over the years with nothing less than exquisite care. The pelt once belonged to an alpha who did not understand what  _ no _ meant, and Kyoraku dealt him enough of an explanation to ensure he would never be able to harm another omega. Keeping a skin after a victory is tradition.

Of course, the touch wins him his mate’s attention; Kyoraku’s smile is soft as he turns to face him, swinging the pelt off of his shoulders and folding it around Ukitake’s own, the lining warm against his skin. “There’s my pretty man. How did that go?”

“The same as always.” He lets himself be drawn into Kyoraku’s arms, nestling his face against his mate’s neck, breathing in the scent of his skin.

“That’s good, at least. As long as things aren’t getting worse, I’m grateful.” Kyoraku noses the top of his head and Ukitake closes his eyes, letting himself indulge in the closeness of his alpha. “Did Orihime-chan notice, or are we still thankfully a secret?”

Ukitake wets his lips. “If she noticed, she didn’t let on. Retsu must be keeping it secret.”

“Good. Not that I’m not looking forward to things, but. I wanna keep this just to us for a little while longer. Our secret.” Kyoraku’s voice is unfairly warm, his hand stealing down between their bodies to press against Ukitake’s stomach. “How are they doing today?”

The question earns an eye-roll. “They’re still too small for me to feel them moving.”

“Soon, hopefully.” Kyoraku leans back to kiss him, his fingers pressing into Ukitake’s belly just enough to startle a squeak out of him. “Let’s get you all inside where it’s warm.”

Since the two of them mated years ago, they were trying to conceive. Most attempts were failures; Ukitake’s body was too frail with his illness, his heats infrequent and nothing really ever took no matter what they did. It was only recently with a stabilized pack and Unohana as their resident healer than he finally made progress on getting his illness under control, the rest of his health following suit not long after. Now that he can take better care of his body, his body is finally responding to him properly.

Having pups this late in life is unusual, certainly, but he  _ wants _ this. They both do.

“Easy does it.” Kyoraku braces an arm in the small of his back and refuses to move it, escorting Ukitake down the steps like he’s closer to nine months than four. “You think Retsu’s going to keep it down for us, then? Because she hasn’t even told Byakuya.”

“He would have told me if she had,” Ukitake confirms, “so yes, we can trust her.”

Kyoraku nods, rubs his hand up and down Ukitake’s back. “That’s excellent. So, breakfast? Or did you want to talk to Urahara about all of this after all?”

“Kisuke first,” Ukitake says, and Kyoraku nods and steers him in that direction.

Yoruichi is not an alpha wolf, and for the most part that is perfectly fine, but it means she keeps her own personal home with Urahara in the trees instead of out in the open, and during the spring the building is almost perfectly concealed with greenery. The trees that mark the home have deep gouges in the bark left by her claws when she stretched up on her hind legs and raked them down the trunks to make sure everyone knew this was her property and her family and no one should come near them with ill intent. Even her scent— spicy and warm— feels like a warning more than a greeting.

But Urahara Kisuke is one of the only omegas in the pack with children—  _ two _ of them, in fact— and Yoruichi is friendly enough to the rest of the pack. She keeps her guard up around them, rightfully so given some of them are less than kind about her feline nature, but she protects her family and so Ukitake has nothing but respect for her.

She answers the door herself in less clothing than seems comfortable in this weather, leaning against the frame, golden eyes meeting Ukitake’s. He’s known wolves whose eyes shift color depending on their moods— bleeding into wolf, but hers are always the same golden as her panther form. “Hi, Jushiro. You here to talk to Kisuke finally?”

“I am.” Ukitake smiles kindly at her. “If you’d allow us entry into your home, Yoruichi-san.”

“Of course.” She plants a hand against Kyoraku’s chest, though, and takes a step forward, gently pushing him back. “But not you. He’s in pre-heat soon, so it’s just omegas allowed.”

“We can talk outside if you’d like,” Kyoraku says, easy as anything, and she nods.

Ukitake lets himself into the house and follows the sound of chatter to the kitchen where Jinta and Ururu are sitting at the breakfast table, Jinta going  _ on _ about something while Ururu keeps her gaze focused on her food. Urahara himself is wiping down the kitchen counters, his hair pulled back into a ponytail this morning and an especially dark mark visible on the side of his neck. He and Yoruichi never seem to get enough of each other.

“Good morning, Kisuke,” Ukitake says pleasantly, Urahara glancing up at him. “I hope I’m not interrupting this morning, but you said we could talk soon.”

“You’re good! I’ve gotten the kids tucked in so I’m free for a bit.” Urahara throws his washcloth in the sink and rounds the table, dropping a kiss on top of Ururu’s head before giving Jinta a stern look. “Be nice to your sister while I’m out of the room.”

“Yes,  _ Touchan. _ ” Jinta rolls his eyes. “Anyway, as I was saying—”

“I’m yours,” Urahara says, taking him by the arm and leading him into the living room.

The house in and of itself is homely and warm and there are enough skins across the back of the couch and spread across the floor that Ukitake knows Yoruichi gives better than she gets, and then some. She was one of the alphas often dispatched to handle hostile and violent outsiders and though Ukitake knows that means taking them down so they can never cause trouble for the pack again, the visual evidence is still something. The sheer variety in texture and color alone is enough to raise his eyebrows.

“She keeps me warm all year long,” Urahara tells him, beaming as he wraps a fur around his shoulders and drops down on the couch. “You said you wanted to talk about the kids?”

Ukitake sits down in one of the chairs;  _ all _ of the furniture is covered in fur throws and he wonders if there are just as many upstairs in the bedroom. “Yes. She’s… This is a lot.”

“Isn’t it? She’s  _ fierce _ when she’s mad.” Urahara pets the fur around his shoulders. “We were on patrol together and someone came at me and she took them  _ down. _ ”

The thought is far from alarming; alphas are meant to protect omegas and if the attacker was a lone wolf, better to put them down for trying to hurt a mated omega than let them live another day to try it again. Too often, taking the higher road means opening up an avenue for more people to hurt in the future, and Ukitake can never justify that.

He touches his own black fur and nods once. “I know what you mean. So, the kids.”

“You and Shunsui still trying to conceive?” Urahara asks, and Ukitake nods slowly; it’s only a half-lie and he really wants the chance to tell Byakuya and Renji first, which is pretty traditional as far as hierarchy goes. “You wanna know what it’s like having kids around?”

“I know you adopted yours when they were older, but I thought it might be a conversation worth having just the same,” Ukitake says softly.

Urahara nods once and Ukitake wonders but doesn’t ask if it’s just because Urahara and Yoruichi haven’t conceived on their own despite the fact they’ve been all over each other as long as they’ve been together. After all, Ukitake was here when Byakuya met Hisana and the casual relationship between Byakuya and Yoruichi came to an end, giving Urahara the in he’d been looking for where she was concerned. The two of them had been friends for a long time, but he’d wanted more, as much as he could have if he could have it.

But years later and nothing has happened for them yet. It isn’t his business one way or another; it might be that they aren’t compatible. There are few werecats, after all.

“They’re a handful,” Urahara says, rubbing a hand over his jaw and making a small  _ hmm _ noise. “Ururu has nightmares sometimes and Jinta never wants to go to bed when we tell him to. We have to keep taking his tech because he’ll sneak it.”

Ukitake chuckles softly. “Somehow I’m not the least bit surprised to hear this.”

Shrugging a shoulder, Urahara smiles at him. “But it’s worth it. They’d both had rough lives before I got to ‘em. Both orphans, both suffering. Both in pain, y’know, showing it in different ways. It’s what happens when there’s tragedy when you’re young. Just getting them to open up to me was hard, but I figured it out after a while.”

“How did you…” Ukitake trails off, petting a hand over the fur wrapped around him, its presence comforting to him. It smells like Kyoraku. “How did you know what to do? Was it instinctual or just trial and error? I feel like the error is such a risk.”

“Ah, that. Yeah, it is hard to figure it out. Some of it does come instinctually, actually. Like your brain just shuts off and your body moves on its own.” Urahara taps himself once on the temple and again on the scent gland in his throat; omega instinct. “I guess it doesn’t work for everyone, but I’ve never known anyone it doesn’t. You seen Taichou when Rukia finally came home? He was all over her trying to comfort her, welcoming her cute little girlfriend in. All that sweet scent all over the place you’d think it was spring.”

“I was there, I remember.” He’d been shocked, to be honest. Even when Hisana was alive, Byakuya was never. Well. Never so emotional or receptive to anyone in his life.

His father, Sojun, had been different. He and Ukitake were friends when Byakuya was born, and Sojun was an omega who was sweet and warm and kind all the way through, the kind of omega that others would have fought his mate for if they actually had half a chance to take her down. In the beginning, Byakuya was brought up like any other omega, and then his parents passed away and he started closing himself in.

Ginrei was an alpha. He was kind and fair but too old-fashioned and stubborn to do anything about Byakuya slowly hardening himself, and if he’d been softer with Yoruichi, well, Ukitake never saw it. Instead, it was like watching a flower curl its petals away from the sun, choosing not to take in the warm and healing rays.

Urahara waves a hand in front of him. “You go all weird when I talk about Taichou.”

“I half-raised him after his parents died, what do you expect?” Ukitake rolls his eyes; if he hadn’t been around, Byakuya would be  _ worse _ off than he is now. “I know some things must be instinctual, like crying triggers a natural comfort response.”

“You have  _ no _ idea. One second you and your mate are both trying to get to your daughter because she had a nightmare and then you’re growling at her to stay back because that’s  _ your _ pup and.” Urahara rolls his eyes and shakes his head, and Ukitake raises his eyebrows in question. “She will  _ never _ let me live it down, and it was just the one time!”

Ukitake smiles softly at him. “I can imagine. You’re fierce yourself, Kisuke.”

Eventually the children finish with breakfast and Jinta must be responsible for the breakfast dishes because Ururu comes traipsing into the living room on her own, climbing up onto the couch when Urahara holds his arms out to her. He wonders if it’s what Ururu needs or if it’s what Urahara wants but she goes to him easily and he sweeps her up into his arms, wrapping her up in one of the furs from the couch and making a soft crooning noise down at her that is entirely not like the Urahara that Ukitake knows.

Which makes it charming and his heart  _ lurches _ at the sight of them together like this.

“I’m done waiting out in the cold.” The voice is Yoruichi’s and she sweeps into the living room, dusting snowflakes off of her violet hair. “Ah, now  _ that _ is a nice sight.”

Ukitake might as well not even  _ be _ here anymore with the way she stalks across the room to Urahara, rounding the couch at the last minute so she can wrap her arms around his shoulders from behind, a deep purr rumbling up from her chest. Smiling, Ukitake quietly excuses himself just as Jinta walks into the room, parking himself in front of the TV.

Kyoraku is waiting for him on the front porch, cocking his head as Ukitake sidles up to him. “Did you get to hear what you needed to hear? You’re smiling.”

“They’re a lovely family. And I did.” He accepts the arm Kyoraku offers him, allowing his mate to lead him back to their own home. “I hope she wasn’t too mean to you.”

Slowly, Kyoraku inclines his head. “She wasn’t, but she knows.”

Ukitake frowns slightly. “How did she figure it out? I gave nothing away.”

“You didn’t have to.” Kyoraku taps the side of his nose and Ukitake  _ ahhs _ softly in understanding; wolves and cats are different, after all. “She could smell it. Says it’s really subtle so the others won’t notice for a while longer, probably not until you’re properly showing. Wolves apparently pick up on their mates and family and not much else.”

“I suppose she’d know. She’s been with us long enough to notice if there are significant differences in the way we do things,” Ukitake says, patting his stomach gently.

Gently, Kyoraku smiles. “That is true. At any rate, she promised to keep the secret for us until we were properly ready to tell everyone and that if I need to leave and you feel lonely without me around, you’re welcome to come stay with her and Urahara.”

“She’s a good alpha,” Ukitake says, thinking of those furs once more. “She’s protective. It doesn’t surprise me she’s the one who ended up becoming Byakuya’s friend.”

Kyoraku hums softly, helps him up the stairs to their front porch even though Ukitake is not even close enough to being too swollen to walk properly. “Well, I’m glad you got what you needed from that conversation. That’s what’s important to me the most.”

Their house is quaint, homely and warm and Nanao is curled up on the couch under a blanket, her glasses threatening to slide off of her face as she naps. Gently, Kyoraku removes them from her face and Ukitake gathers his mate’s niece up into his arms, easily supporting her slight weight as he carries her to her bedroom. Her parents’ death had been sudden and traumatic, but they’ve been getting on just fine these days. She has them, which might not be as much as it used to be for her, but it’s something.

“You got her?” Kyoraku murmurs, arms buoyed to accept her weight.

Ukitake nods. “Pull the comforter back for me so I can tuck her in, darling.”

She doesn’t stir— she has sleepless nights, the naps are necessary— but Ukitake lets his scent fan around the room just the same, letting it become a perfume to lull her into a deep and much-needed rest. It’s been, well. It’s been rocky, and there are some things he knows to do, and others he worries about. But Urahara’s insight was helpful.

He can handle this. He and Kyoraku have worked too hard for this. He  _ will _ do this.

Reassuring arms circle his waist from behind, his mate nosing the side of his neck, though Ukitake can feel his gaze focused on his niece. “You’re so great with her.”

“It’s just instinct,” Ukitake tells him, and Kyoraku smiles against his skin, hugging him just a little tighter around the middle. “Come on. Let’s let her rest.”

Urahara can handle two children, and well, and Ukitake will follow that example.

**Author's Note:**

> this was meant to be done and posted on ukitake's birthday but it wasn't. i feel bad about that, i'm sorry mr. handsome you deserve better than that. life... has not been good recently? so it's been hard to update things, much less to want to update things. i'm trying to get back on track but it's hard. please be patient with me! i swear i'll get back on things soon.
> 
> until then~ here's some interesting tidbits about the universe. this one is taking place hand in hand with canon so ukitake and byakuya are both pregnant at the same time, and the other doesn't know.
> 
> yoruichi does though.
> 
> nnoites is still in progress oops but like... it's longer so that's my excuse.


End file.
